Rodgers' Pre-Tottenham Selection Considerations
- Leicester City host Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Wednesday (7:30pm GMT kick-off)
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Luke Thomas, Çağlar Söyüncü, Patson Daka and James Justin are in contention
- Boubakary Soumaré and Ayoze Pérez may also return, while Timothy Castagne has had an operation
- Manager Brendan Rodgers hopes the lack of games will have helped players in their recoveries
The Foxes entertain Spurs at King Power Stadium on Wednesday in the Club's first Premier League outing of 2022 after fixture postponements due to player availability linked to COVID-19. The Foxes' last top-flight outing was the 1-0 victory over Liverpool on Filbert Way on 28 December.
A youthful squad also secured a 4-1 home success over Watford in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup earlier this month. Before the postponed encounter with Burnley, scheduled for last Saturday, Rodgers revealed up to five players could return and the situation concerning those is unchanged.
Soumaré and Pérez may also be back for the Foxes, who remain without Timothy Castagne, following an operation on his thigh.
"It's the ones who were going to be available for our last game," the 48-year-old confirmed, when asked who could be available. "Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be back, Luke Thomas. Çağlar Söyüncü will be back... Patson Daka and James Justin too.
"Those guys were available and now they’ve been able to train a little more, so that’s good. We just have to manage JJ over this second part of the season. He’s worked so hard over this last year. He’s done remarkably well to get back (from an ACL injury sustained in February 2021).
"He’s just been unfortunate. He’s had a couple of bouts of illness. He looks great on the training field and we’ll put him in when we feel it’s the right time. Bouba’s come back from illness so he’s trained the last couple of days, Ayoze also. Timothy’s had an operation, so he’s probably [out for] eight to nine weeks.
"He had an issue with his thigh and he needed to go and have an operation."
With City set to contest only their second competitive fixture of the New Year, Rodgers is hopeful that players who were struggling with fitness issues will be able to return after working in training as usual.
"We played the games we should have played and obviously, of course, the other games unfortunately were off for us," the Northern Irishman added. "It has allowed us to give those guys a chance to come back and it’s great news that we have a number of those boys returning."